BEES proposes to develop an environmental learning based IoT framework for intelligent and energy efficient management of residential buildings. At one end, the IoT framework would have networked distributed multi-purpose sensors and hubs in the residential units (student dorms, rental apartments, etc.), providing residents energy cost savings and enhanced convenience by intelligent thermal management through occupancy and environmental learning. On the other end, the IoT framework includes a cloud platform that would provide software as a service (SaaS) to the operators of a set of large residential buildings and utility companies for peak demand management through prediction and control at a macro level. The cloud platform would utilize weather data, real-time occupancy and energy consumption data from residential units, and grid load/pricing information to come up with coordinated thermal management solutions across the different residential units. This can be further utilized by utility companies as well as operators that manage a number of residential units/buildings towards automated shaving of the peak comsumption and/or providing effective demand-response to grid congestion.